Huge fireball erupts in Russian city of Volgograd as electricity ignites fuel tanker

A blast set off by a fire at a Russian gas station sent a fireball roaring through the sky on Monday, in scenes that went viral on social media.

The blast, in the city of Volgograd, saw at least 13 people hurt, Fox News reported , with 10 victims going to hospital. The blast is said to have been sparked by an electricity discharge, as a fuel tanker truck was unloading at the site.

Although thankfully casualties from the blast were incomparable, its enormity had echoes of the explosion that engulfed Beirut in recent days, when a fire at the port set off 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and killed at least 220.



BREAKING - Massive #explosion reported at a gas station in #Volgograd, #Russia; FYTKS

At least 12 people have been injured. pic.twitter.com/01S7DEstWm

— SV News 🚨 (@SVNewsAlerts) August 10, 2020

Reports say the effort to tackle the fire in Volgograd included a team of 70 firefighters, with a special robot used to help to put it out.

Authorities in Russia say firefighters who were sent to the scene to extinguish the first fire, were later hurt when the blast ignited. The drama started at 12:40 p.m. local time.



Locals captured this footage of a fuel tank exploding in the Russian city of Volgograd. 4 people were reportedly injured pic.twitter.com/E8EWi0Qryq

— RT (@RT_com) August 11, 2020

According to the Independent, firefighter Maxim Chertovy said: “Feeling the blast wave, I fell to the ground. Looking up, I saw the gas station blazing, and the flames rise several meters in height.”

“The firefighters were literally scattered by a blast wave,” Vladislav Kopyev, a local fire boss, said. Fox News reports that the station was evacuated prior to the main explosion, saving a number of lives.